Technologies relating to systems and methods for manipulating minute volumes of fluids, such as biological and chemical fluids, are widely referred to as microfluidics. Microfluidic devices offer the promise of automated analysis with fast reaction times and small sample consumption, and can be used as a platform in various applications, e.g., but not limited to, drug discovery, disease diagnosis, optimization of chemical reactions, in vitro cell culture systems, e.g., organ-on-a-chip devices, life science research, and biological and/or chemical sensor development.
However, controlled fluid transfer in a microfluidic platform is important for all these applications. Some existing microfluidic systems use exterior syringe, diaphragm, or peristaltic devices to induce fluid flow through in the microfluidic network. These systems tend to be much larger in volume than the microfluidic systems they connect to, causing problems with flow control resolution and accuracy. In the case of valves, they often have large (e.g., on the order of 10× or more) swept volume of the systems, resulting in difficulties with separations, mixing, and other microfluidic functions. Accordingly, microdevices and valves, active components sharing the size scale and seamlessly integrated with the rest of the microfluidic system, are desirable.
While examples of microdevices and valves have been developed for microfluidic uses (see, e.g., Yobas et al. “A disposable planar peristaltic device for lab-on-a-chip,” Lab on a Chip (2008) 8: 660-662; Du et al. “A peristaltic microdevice driven by rotating motor with magnetically attracted steel balls,” Sensors (2009) 9: 2611-2620), most require complex fabrication and assembly/calibration sequences, e.g., to ensure proper alignment between a microfluidic channel and device elements, such as rolling elements of a peristaltic device, for optimum fluid flow. Accordingly, there is a need in the art for improved microfluidic devices and valves, e.g., with little dead volume that are simple to fabricate and use.